gimbalStuff is for people who want to peek inside my shed, and see what I am up to.

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Mounting a DRO on the 6x26 Mill

I kept the chinese DRO scales and readout display from the previous mill. All of the travels were able to accommodate the travels on the new machine. Having a DRO is something I don't think I could now live without.

Here are some photos showing what I did:

I drilled and tapped a couple of M5 holes in the bottom half of the belt guard - this allowed me to attach the readout unit to the side of the machine.

I removed the scale and the stop post that was attached to the front of the table and used the t-nuts that where in the t-slot at the front of the table to attach the X-axis scale. I used some lightweight aluminium angle to protect the scale from chips and coolant etc. The cable was put inside plastic sheathing and was tied down with cable ties.

The Y-axis scale was attached to a plate that was attached in turn to the Y-axis stops bracket via standoffs. I used stand offs to clear the oiler for the knee dovetail. I replaced the steel stop piece with a new part that acts as both a stop and a bracket for moving the scale.

The Z-axis was the only place (aside from the readout bracket) that I had to drill holes to attach the scales. I have not covered these scales yet.